Tuesday, March 12, 2013

My latest draft:

I keep wanting to draft Orzhov, but for whatever reason, I can never get there. A first-pick Skirmisher is a great start to either Orzhov or Boros, but at 6 mana it's a little slow, so with the 2nd pick I go with Kingpin's Pet, followed up with Devour Flesh. But then a 4th-pick Homing Lightning seems like a pretty strong signal that red is wide open, followed up with a 5th-pick Mugging. So I move in on Boros.

I'm pretty happy with the end result of Pack 1, even though I'm a little concerned with my curve being a bit high. I've passed a couple of decent 2-drops in Boros (Skyjek and 2 Skinbrand Goblins), but haven't seen any of the premium multicolor Boros 2-drops. So I'm a little concerned, but when I open an Aurelia Pack 2, everything seems right in the world.

However, Pack 2 sucks for me overall, only picking up one 2-drop. It's a good one in Firefist Striker, but I've very concerned now. I want 17-18 creatures in Boros, with nearly as many 2-drops as I can get, and I end up without any Halberdiers, Truefire Paladins, or Guildmages. I do prioritize 2-drops in Pack 3, but by this it's clear that Boros is being heavily drafted but I'm strongly committed.

I end up with a kind of clunky, less aggressive Boros, but with strong removal and a great top-end. I'm thinking I will probably do fine.

Results:

Round 1: My opponent never shows up. Games: 2-0. Blah.

Matches: 1-0.

Round 2: I go up against the Dimir aggro deck I talked about last post. It's all rogues, Basilica Screechers, and Metropolis Sprites, topped out with Consuming Aberration and Stolen Identity. Very strong deck, and I had hideous draws. Mulled to 6 both games and kept relatively weak hands with 4 lands and 2 spells both games. Game 1 he just curved out with evasive threats and killed me fast. Game 2 was more protracted, but I used two removal spells on early threats and had none left when he cast Stolen Identity and ciphered onto a Deathcult Rogue, making a crapton of awesome creatures. I had him down to 5 life with outs to a Massive Raid for 4 draw steps, but just ripped land after land. My deck isn't a great representative of what Boros wants to be, but it's still very strong. Still, I always seem to lose my first round with Boros. A week ago I had a deck with Boros Reckoner, Firemane Angel, and a much better curve and got creamed first round in the mirror by Madcap Skills. Ah well. Games: 0-2.

Matches: 1-1.

Round 3: Went up against a decent Simic deck. I won Game 1. In Game 2 my opponent had 3 clunky ground dudes, while I had a much better board with 4 aggressive creatures, including a Skyknight Legionnaire and a Daring Skyjek. I had Aurelia in hand, but needed only 1 more land to cast her. I drew the land. My life total was at 9, my opponent at 8. So I decided to play around Aetherize (he had 5 mana up, including blue). So I played Aurelia and swung with her, the Skyjeck, and the Legionnaire. No Aetherize...GG, right? Nope. Tower Defense. That's right, I got Tower Defensed. He gave all his guys +0/+5 and reach, killing all my attackers. The second attack phase triggered...whoopeeee. Meanwhile, he untaps, plays Way of the Thief on his biggest dork, and swings in for lethal. GG. I won Game 3 with a well-timed Act of Treason, though. Games 2-1.

Matches: 2-1.

I'm not sure I would have drafted any differently here. I thought I read the red signals correctly in Pack 1, so even though I passed some other decent Boros Pack 1 and expected a pretty poor Pack 2, I thought Pack 3 would be sweet. Either it was just a crap Boros Pack, or there were multiple Boros drafters skewed to my right. I just don't think that after the cards I got in Pack 1 and ripping an Aurelia P1P2 that I can look back. I just kind of got hosed on 2-drops. If you would have done otherwise, though, let me know in the comments.